Nobody said repealing Obamacare would be easy. And after Friday afternoon, there’s no shortage of opinions on what Republicans could have done better. But just because leaders struck out with this version of the American Health Care Act doesn’t mean the conversation is over. In fact, if there’s one thing the GOP agrees on, it’s that the issue is still very much alive. “Everything’s on the table,” said the White House’s Reince Priebus. “We’ll give these guys another chance.”

While President Trump shifts gears to tax policy, House and Senate Republicans have been clear: “This is not the end of the fight.” Nor should it be — considering that this debate is about one-fifth of the U.S. economy and the well-being of millions of American families. The best way forward in repealing Obamacare is to look back at what has worked. As FRC and other conservatives have said since the beginning, it’s time to put their feet on the trail they blazed in 2015 and pass the same budget reconciliation bill Congress put on President Obama’s desk. The whole point of that exercise was to prove it could be done. If House and Senate leaders are looking for consensus, what better place to find it than a measure that already passed? The only thing that’s changed since 2015 is that they finally have a president who will sign it!

As House Freedom Caucus Chair Mark Meadows (R-NC) has said, “To suggest that we can pass it in 2015 and that it’s more difficult to do it in 2017 makes for a very difficult argument for anyone on why they’ve changed their position and were willing to vote for it then and aren’t willing to vote for it now.” He’s right. Either members were on board with the proposal or that was just an exercise in political posturing. If it was a messaging tool, as one member suggested to me, they failed to tell that to the voters.

Americans believed the GOP was serious about uprooting the worst mistake of the Obama years enough to give them the keys to Congress and the White House. Now is the time for Republicans to deliver. If that means holding some members’ feet to the fire, so be it. There’s absolutely no excuse for not supporting a budget resolution that’s identical to the one passed by Congress 14 months ago. What’s more, it gives both sides a chance to regroup on an alternative to Obamacare that appeals to everyone. Repeal first, replace next. It’s the strategy House and Senate leaders have rehearsed for a year and a half. Why deviate now?

Originally published here.

This Speaker Amps Up Privacy Debate

Sometimes, the most honorable thing a leader can do is get out of the way. Texas House Speaker Joe Straus (R) has signaled his intent to do exactly that on the state’s Privacy Act, SB 6. A handful of days after FRC Action launched its ad calling on the speaker to give the bill an up-or-down vote, Straus agreed to step aside and let the chamber have a voice on an issue that matters deeply to most Texans. For months, the speaker has been openly critical of the legislation, which is a common sense solution to the insanity that President Obama introduced to public schools across the country.

Like most sane people, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) doesn’t think men should be sharing locker rooms, showers, and restrooms with girls. So, he teamed up with State Sen. Lois Kolkhorst (R) in unveiling a statewide bill, the Texas Privacy Act, which would bar public schools, state government agencies, and political subdivisions from throwing open bathroom doors to people of the opposite sex. Businesses, on the other hand, would be free to set their own policies. “We must put safety, and dignity ahead of social engineering that is disguised as civil rights,” Kolkhorst urged. “The Texas Privacy Act is inclusive, allowing personal accommodations for special circumstances while also respecting those who do not consent to a male entering a female restroom… Let’s remember that parental rights and women’s rights are indeed human rights.”

The legislation has been overwhelmingly popular in the state, where 77 percent of people said they support SB 6 even if it costs the state a major sporting event. That’s a sentiment that crossed age and racial lines. Unfortunately, it’s not a sentiment that Joe Straus shares. “Count me as a no,” Straus has said. But, after prodding from FRC Action and others, the speaker is at least giving others a say. “I don’t support it. But I remind people all the time. I’m one person out of 150,” Straus told a local CBS affiliate. “I don’t think you’re going to find members out there who will tell you I lean on them and vote ‘for’ something or ‘against’ something based on the district I come from.”

Meanwhile, we don’t have to guess where Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) stands on the issue. When a Pennsylvania junior was told to “tolerate it” when he was forced to undress with a girl in his locker room, Abbott tweeted, “Locker room policies like this will not be tolerated in Texas.” With the cooperation of the House, let’s hope he’s right — sooner rather than later!

Originally published here.

Military at the Tip of the Speer

The Obama administration didn’t waste a single second of its final moments in power. When the moving vans were pulling up to the Pentagon, Secretary of the Army Eric Fanning was still cranking out politically correct regulations — including the “Promoting Diversity and Inclusion” directive. The Trump team is stumbling on all kinds of last-minute policies like this one throughout the various federal agencies — which are only making the mess they’ve inherited even bigger to clean up.

Under the Fanning directive, our friends at the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty protest the fact that it wastes important “time, energy, and manpower” developing yet another radical training tool. “The military exists to protect our nation, not to be used as a laboratory for social engineering — and especially not from an outgoing official’s 11th hour order,” said the group’s executive director, Chaplain Ron Crews (U.S. Army-Ret.). “This directive does nothing to increase military readiness but wastes valuable training time just to promote a political agenda.”

And it was a political agenda Fanning never bothered to hide. In his farewell interview with CBS, he was asked, “Do you think your being gay made you want to really focus on inclusivity and diversity in the Army?” “Absolutely.” Later on, reporter Faith Salie wondered, “Do you think that your commitment to diversity in the Army will be continued in a new administration?” Fanning said he didn’t know.

Crews and a number of retired chaplains certainly hope the military’s focus will return to its purpose — fighting and winning wars. In a letter to Acting Secretary of the Army Robert Speer, they sound the alarm on Fanning’s policy and ask his successor to rescind it. “The directive, in addition to adding layers of bureaucracy concerning the appointment of civilian and military leaders, requires the development of a plan to provide mandated ‘training on implicit or unconscious bias.’” Of course, the problem is, as Crews points out, Fanning never defines what “bias” is. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that liberals would use it as an excuse to censor anyone with biblical beliefs. “Given the variety of serious threats our military faces every day, the Army must cease from continuing such training mandates that cannot be shown to help our soldiers be better prepared for combat readiness,” the group writes.

Obviously, no one can undo eight years of anti-faith, anti-American lawlessness overnight, but we’re confident the Trump team is taking the job seriously. It understands, as we do, that the only way to rebuild our troops into the most elite fighting force in the world is to clear the decks of distractions like this one. “Our enemies don’t care about how well versed we are on tolerance, inclusion, diversity, or sensitivity,” FRC’s Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin (U.S. Army-Ret.) points out. “All they will be concerned with is whether we are capable of and willing to kill or capture them on the battlefield.”

Originally published here.

This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.